Noel Clarke sexual harassment allegations, suspended by BAFTA

[Cwenthryth]

www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women

🤬🤬🤬

Especially galling that BAFTA was seemingly made aware of this before giving him his very recent honour. I watched his acceptance speech and found it really moving in terms of celebrating a working class black man’s success in a historically white industry. Turns out he’s an (alleged) sexual abuser. Fucking great.

My DH knows loads of people in London through work or friendship. It's always, "My mate's sister-in-law's hairdresser's dad once put a kitchen in for (insert celebs name here)" that type of thing. Anyway, I'm not going to repeat the allegation here but he has a mate who has a female relative who says NC assaulted her. I believe the women.

Initially when the article came out I was struck by how he played down some shocking behaviour or minimised it by saying he'd spoken to the accuser at the time and as far as he's aware he "sorted it" to use local parlance. But sometimes just sorting it isn't enough and thinking you got away with poor behaviour when your victim/survivor lives with it daily doesn't mean it will go away.

And yes, even though he didn't do anything (bullshit, he got found out) he's getting professional help? Once he's spent time in therapy (lying low for a few months) he'll secure a Sunday paper interview or similar, put his side of the story forward, blame someone or something in his life which is why he is how he is, minimise the behaviour, and expect us all to say, it's ok mate. Well it still f*cking won't be.

The man I would be heartbroken if anything came out would be Keanu Reeves

Ditto with Keanu Reeves.

@subbysammiexoxo

A family friend is good friends with noel grew up with him etc and is shocked by the allegations, said he's a very lovely man so who knows the truth will come out in the end, however it actually is

Well going by his tweets alone he quite obviously isn't all that lovely, is he?

I wonder how his wife is taking this. I hope she has support around her, should she need it.

@Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree

Ditto with Keanu Reeves.

Oh yes.

Some more women have come forward.

Former students of London School of Dramatic Art where he encouraged students to take their clothes off during improvisations.

'Clarke’s lawyers denied that the LSDA had ever asked him to stop giving his classes, and said this workshop, called “Facing Your Fears”, was intended to help students with anxieties over their acting roles, helping to “normalise” the removal of outer clothing in a safe environment.

They say Clarke categorically denies that as part of this he encouraged or forced anyone to be naked and said the workshop was open to, and was attended by, both male and female adult students and that Clarke made it clear it was not obligatory to participate.'

Who knows. But it doesn't look good given his record

Picalli I am thinking the exact same thing. Won’t be long before he comes out with the classic ‘After therapy, I’ve realised my behaviour is down to my ill treatment as a child.... blah blah blah. I apologise if my actions have offended anyone unintentionally.’ Ie sorry, not sorry.

Those of us saying we’d be gutted if anything came to light about David Tennant, I’m disappointed enough in him that he’s in this skit (made for the wrap party at the end of his Who tenure when RTD and Julie Gardner were leaving, as a present for them - so an inside joke between friends) singing a throwaway line about “Johnny B getting his cock out”. Clearly indecent exposure in the workplace was a running gag amongst that crew but it was ok because it was a gay man doing it....and I really like(d) Barrowman as well, went to his live shows, bought his records and saw him on the West End - phenomenal performer - now I’m wondering if he was sexually harassing the crew backstage all along and they were all fake laughing it off as banter all the time. What a larf for a gay man to plonk his penis on an unsuspecting woman’s shoulder. Grim.

I think it’s a very, very good point made by various posters that many of these “low level” unacceptable sexual abuse/harrassment behaviours - indecent exposure, voyeurism (Noel Clarke videoed a couple having sex through a window on holiday and posted it on his Twitter FFS! Not linking to that because the photo is still there and also included in the newspaper article), groping, inappropriate comments etc - none of this is ever going to result in a conviction, even the bits that are technically illegal, when the Victim’s Commissioner in this country has stated that “rape is effectively decriminalised” then of course these “lower level” behaviours are even more so. It does not make them ok nor the perpetrators innocent, and it does not mean it is wrong for newspapers to publish the allegations, especially with robust supporting evidence. Noel Clarke provides the majority of evidence of his behaviours himself with his disgusting Twitter history.
If the allegations are untrue (ie slanderous), he can sue for libel. That went well for Johnny Depp didn’t it.

I do think until someone is found guilty in a court of law they should not be depicted as a villain .

However, reading from this guys tweets he sounds like a total arsehole;

www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/noel-clarkes-old-tweets-paint-24011573

Picallili: ....he has a mate who has a female relative who says NC assaulted her. I believe the women.
..........
Here they come!

Did JB rest his cock on men or did he save it fir women?

He is a very talented man.

How sad that that wasn't enough for him.

So sad for the women he exploited. So sad it took so long.

I had never heard of Noel Clarke before these allegations. I'm glad I know who he is now. I'm glad that enough women have come forward to reinforce his guilt. I know it's been said umpteen times, here and elsewhere, but I'm sick of men getting away with this kind of shit.

I worked in an office made up of mostly men (about 20 men and 3 women) and it was truly awful at times. The behaviour of a few of them was probably very 'tame' compared to the shocking treatment these women have suffered from Noel Clarke, but it was low level, insidious, chip chip chipping away every single day. I remember going home at times with a feeling of guilt that I was uncomfortable with the banter, the innuendo, the unwanted ever-so-subtle touching. I felt as though I just wasn't getting it, wasn't fitting in. I remember one guy putting his arm round my waist and I flinched and another colleague quipped 'Oh it's ne touche pas with her mate'. Damn right! This was many years ago when women tended to let it pass rather than making a fuss. I'd like to think I wouldn't put up with it nowadays, but women do every day due to men's sense of entitlement, their bullying and their gaslighting. The women who speak up are brave and their voices will always make it that bit easier for others to refuse to quietly accept this appalling behaviour.

Twenty women. Twenty. And probably the tip of the iceberg. I honestly don't care if he hasn't been tried in a court of law yet. Horrible, horrible man.

I've never heard of him either but he sounds vile.

Of course it's the tip of the iceberg. Reading the massive Reddit thread, it is.

I know it's a minor point here, but I dislike the way that one of the tabloids' go-to moves is to always dig out a photo of the man's wife or girlfriend to accompany the headline.

There's always negative subtext - "Why didn't she police his life properly?", "Come on, she obviously knew", "If she was carrying out her matrimonial duties properly would he have needed to do this?" down to "Bets please - will the she stay with him and be a pathetic doormat or will the ballbreaker abandon him when he needs her most?"

But ultimately they want to throw some dirt her way, and whatever she does now will be wrong - and filtered to be that way by the media who are probably going through her social media accounts as we speak for bikini pics, or any pics she has with any of the female victims for some vaguely blaming photos in tomorrow's edition.

It's just another point in the misogynist tabloid playbook. "Man in trouble? Which woman should we blame?" Just pisses me off.

@JaniceBattersby, thank you for your informative post. I appreciate light over heat.

@MrsRobinsonsHandprints

Did JB rest his cock on men or did he save it fir women?

I was thinking that, too.

There's a small proportion of gay men who despise women and their horrible slimy fishiness.

Depressingly a fb group i am on for women in France are furious that the last episode of Viewpoint has been cancelled.
They keep harping on about innocent until proven guilty and my answer that this is why his Bafta is only suspended atm makes no difference.
And 20 women cannot all be making false accusations.
Even worse is these women tend to mostly be over 60, as am I.
I can't surely be in such a minority that so few older women care about other women, especially dd's and dgd's.
But, unfortunately it seems I am.
The worst thing about some retirees in France is their insidious racism and bold misogyny.
It's shocking.

But I thought you weren't innocent until proven guilty in France.

@Doyoumind

But I thought you weren't innocent until proven guilty in France.

I don't think British retirees would know that. I have some lovely British friends as well as many French. Unfortunately narrow minded ,older British women are heavily represented here!

@MrsRobinsonsHandprints

Did JB rest his cock on men or did he save it fir women?

The reports are variously “got it out all over the place” but named/acknowledged instances I’m aware of have only involved women.

A gay man plopping his cock onto another unsuspecting man would have much more obvious sexual harrassment overtones wouldn’t it. But to a woman, well, obviously he doesn’t want to have sex with her, so it’s just bantz innit? Missing the point that these kind of actions are never actually about sex, they are about power, and enjoying their victims’ discomfort at their actions. Laughing at their victims response. Completely ignorant or uncaring of why so many, probably the majority of women, recoil when faced with a man unexpectedly exposing his genitals to them.

Anyway.

These behaviours are allowed to persist by the collective acceptance of them within social groups. Overtly or by omission of challenging them. How do we change that?

@Cwenthyth - I don't think it was an inside joke about “Johnny B getting his cock out”, this was apparently his well-known party piece.

A well known actress even spoke about it in an interview years ago, his favourite prank on set being striking up a conversation with someone who wouldn't initially realise JB was actually stood talking to them with his penis hanging out. I just wonder if those laughing were genuinely scared to say it wasn't right or if they actually found it funny. I've looked at JB with very different eyes since reading that interview and wouldn't be surprised if he's next in the headlines.

Oneeyeopen
Depressingly a fb group i am on for women in France are furious that the last episode of Viewpoint has been cancelled.
.......
I watched it on iplayer, if people can access the BBC in France they can surely access iplayer.

Am I right in thinking most of what he's allegedly done would not interest the police or CPS in the slightest? So he's never going to be found guilty in court anyway. The best evidence are these stories which have been independently verified - and the Guardian's lawyers were happy with these initial 20 cases. I'm guessing there is tonnes more which cannot be verified or which like the drama school ones aren't illegal but are unpleasant, exploitative, manipulative practices which shouldn't happen in a college or workplace.